The Zerg vs Protoss matchup depends a lot on good scouting and countering your enemy’s build. Certain compositions and units work better against the composition your enemy chooses and it is crucial to know theses. The protoss can attempt an all-in, which if countered would win you the game.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Zerg Vs Protoss Build Orders Strategy

Start out a standard build and you can deviate later on depending on what the protoss is going for:

6:10 second gases

6:30-7:00 roach warren

7:00 evo, +1 range

7:00 third gas

7:20-7:30 lair

8:00 fourth gas

When lair finishes – infestation pit and hydralisk

9:00 fifth and sixth gas

The lair can be delayed in case the protoss is going stargate. Build some spores to counter the stargate units. If the protoss is going for the robotics bay, he might be going for an immortal all-in so it is best to get your lair as soon as possible. The swarm hosts are excellent against the immortals so you can counter the all-in.

The hydralisk are really good to fill the bulk of your army while your tankier units like the locust and later on ultras, form the vanguard, this is in the case the protoss is planning on relying on a stargate. The hydralisk are great against aerial pressure and will be needed for protection before you start harassing with swarm hosts while you wait for the spire.

Get your evolution chambers and get the carapace and ranged upgrades. You can get another evolution chamber for melee as you transition to late game.

Harassing mid-game
You need to take of your swarm hosts. If an army is approaching, move the swarm hosts back to a safe location. While moving the swarm hosts, when the locusts become available, burrow, let the locusts go and un-burrow and be on your way. You can add in corruptors and/or vipers later on to strengthen your composition.

If you spot the immortal all-in, delay and distract with your zerglings as you try to get out as many swarm hosts as possible. Don’t expend all your zerglings, you will be needing them later on.

You need to position your swarm hosts according to the position of the enemy units, be ready to move around a lot. You don’t want the protoss to get to your swarm hosts or wreck havoc in an unprotected area.

Given that there are no two base all-ins and you both get your third, you will have quite a nice harass with the swarm hosts. You can choose to support the swarm hosts with your mutas or just go with swarmhosts and zerglings.

With the swarm host pressure, you will get a lot more map control and can choose to expand and apply even more pressure. It is really hard defending till late game without swarm hosts so keep the pressure on the protoss to deny them opportunities. Otherwise the protoss can harass your third quite easily.

Remember not to rely on the swarm hosts for too long because they are only to buy you time to transition to other units. You should transition into the late game composition of ultras, hydras, swarmhosts and other situational untis.

Another way to harass the protoss till late game is using mutas which you can then add to your composition. However, if there are no swarm hosts for defense, it could turn out to be a base trade. Spine crawlers will offer a much needed defense and will delay the protoss attack.

You should be expanding as you harass with the mutas. Your goal should be to get an upper hand as you transition out of mutas. You can add in infestors if the protoss is going stargate.

If you are going for a roach/hydra build, your aim should be of aggressive play before the protoss transitions. You should aim to transition as soon as possible to keep up with the protoss, so you should rush for the hive.

The vipers offer a great way to disable the protoss army so you can opt for the utility of the vipers. However, if the protoss has templars then feedback will render the vipers pretty useless.

Late Game Composition
If you went for the muta build, you will transition in to infestors and add in ultras. Have a greater spire ready to counter the protoss. With the heavy aerial dominance it should be safe to get out brood lords.

You will ideally want to add in broodlords as the protoss would not have tempests or void rays due to your air superiority. The brood lords will give you the late game power needed to win.

If the protoss has archon, templars, colossi and immortals you should go for the brood lord transition, however if the protoss are going for stalkers, templars and colossi, you should get ultras.

In case of the swarm host and mass hydra composition, if the protoss does not have aerial units while you still have some corruptors, go for early brood lords. The broodlord can deal the ending blow unless the protoss have kept up and transitioned into a late game comp.

Usually you will be transitioning to ultras but broodlords can work great in situations and you can always catch the protoss off guard.

The protoss composition of templar, voidray and colossi or some variant is very powerful because it provides both ground and aerial power. Usually, you should have chosen a strategy early game which will not let the protoss get this far but in case the protoss has the preferred composition, you should go for ultras, swarm hosts, vipers and hydras.

The ultras and swarm host will form the frontline and deal with the colossi and also the templar so they won’t counter your vipers. The mass hydras meanwhile can deal with the aerial pressure while the vipers abduct high target units such as colossi or the aerial units. Keep up the reinforcements and you should come out on top.